Page 23 - September 2019 FOP Newsletter

Portraits by Peter Bucks
Tributes to officers from the CPD Officer, Lodge 7 member and renowned artist
‘Always looking forward to the next challenge’
■ BY AMBER RAMUNDO
Roughly 13,500 officers serve the city of Chicago. Only eight of them make up the Chica- go Police Department Animal Crime Unit, and Nicholaus Lesch is one of them.
Lesch has seen a lot in his career of service, which began with eight years in the U.S. mil- itary before joining the CPD on Nov. 29, 2004. He’s dealt with plenty of drugs, guns and gang activity while working on the 11th District gang team, and then gang enforcement and gang investigations on the West Side of Chicago. But it wasn’t until 2017, when a position opened up on the gang inves- tigations Animal Crime Unit #193, that Lesch was exposed to a scene within his city that many officers never encounter.
“I was ready to look for the next step in pursuing gangs, and then this opportunity for the animal crime team pre- sented itself like God’s way of opening a window for me,” Lesch says. “Instead of drugs and guns, now I deal with ani- mal rescue and all of the rescue organizations.”
NICHOLAUS G. LESCH Star #13061
identifying surveillance points and [understanding] weapon- ry in general,” he shares. “I was exposed to plenty of weapons in the military. A lot of officers come across guns they don’t know how to unload and iden- tify markings — that’s really helped me.”
Once Lesch became an of- ficer, he knew he wanted to put his weaponry knowledge to good use by making his way onto a gang team. The excite- ment and intensity of the job kept him going as he made his way through the ranks of gang enforcement and inves- tigations in Area 4 and 5, until accepting his next challenge by joining the animal rescue unit. During training, Lesch quickly discovered that there were animal protection laws that he was never aware of.
“I think I’m always looking forward to the next challenge,” Lesch remarkes. “Through my adulthood, I’ve always tried to push myself to the next level — and I don’t think it’s quite done yet.”
Looking for life’s next best challenge is somewhat of a theme for Lesch. It’s what caused him to join the army in the first place after growing up in California. After being stationed in Ken- tucky, he spent 3.5 years in Hawaii, where he met and eventually married his wife. Once married, Lesch knew that his next desti- nation would be in his wife’s hometown of Chicago. Even before his tour of duty ended, Lesch took the CPD exam in the hopes of finding a steady career while starting a family there.
“When I was ready to raise my family outside of the military, I knew [law enforcement] was a career path that suited me,” he says.
Chicago may have been foreign territory for Lesch, but his mil- itary mindset gave him a clear advantage while starting the job. Nearly a decade serving in the military meant that he knew how to operate on a team and keep the safety of his partners in check at all times. It also didn’t hurt that Lesch knew a thing or two about weapons of mass destruction.
“Training for the military is actually a good transition as far as
A lot of training and certifi- cations are required of the few CPD officers who make up the animal rescue squad. After growing up in a household that always had pets, Lesch was already a natural animal enthu- siast, but he had to make his care for animals official by becoming certified by the Department of Agriculture and completing multi- ple trainings given by animal rescue organizations and attorneys
in the area.
Now one of few official animal crime investigators on the team,
Lesch is called to the scenes of dog-fighting, rooster-fighting and other any other animal abuse that goes on across Chicago. His role recently led him to investigate the scene of a cock-fighting ring on the South Side. And though Lesch is always looking to push himself to the next level, for now he’s content with his bal- ance of work and family life as he sets an example for his three sons to be the best they can possibly be.
“Whenever you’ve hit a peak in your career, there’s always something else you can do for self-improvement,” he says. “I’m at a very happy point in my life right now. Everything has fallen into place quite nicely.”
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2019 23